Chicago and the Doobie Brothers

July 24, 1999

First American Music Center, Nashville, Tenn.

See concert pictures here!

By Tim Wood

This is a slightly edited version of the concert review I posted to the Chicago mailing list.

I had high hopes for this concert, being that I liked the Doobie Brothers and had heard good things about the show on the Chicago mailing list.

I was not disappointed. After hearing the Doobies roar through their set, I wondered how Chicago could top it. But Da Boyz acquitted themselves well. More on them later. The Doobies took off with a motorcycle engine roar out of the speakers, a nod to their heritage as a biker bar band. Fans of this band will have to forgive me for not knowing the names of all of their hits or all of the band members' names.

The second song, "Rockin' Down the Highway," got things going for me. I had a press pass to shoot during the first two songs, so I was concentrating on that. But the band sounded hot. Next up was "Jesus is Just All Right," perhaps my favorite Doobies song. John McFee and Patrick Simmons then did an instrumental acoustic duet.

Next up was "Can't Stand to Lose," a ballad from the group's new album, to be released in the Spring of 2000. This song was written by a couple of Nashville residents, and it had an overly formulaic, crafted feel, as if it was written specifically to chart. Of course, songwriters don't make much money if their songs don't chart, so maybe that's OK. The song was a power ballad and really contrasted with the rest of the Doobies set. Are they going down the Chicago/Foster road, or even revisited Michael McDonald years? Who knows.

Next up were "Take Me in Your Arms," "Takin' It to the Streets' and a blues song I didn't recognize.

Simmons almost seemed to apologize for the fact that Michael McDonald wasn't available to sing "Takin'It to the Streets," and said he and the bass player, who goes by the name "Skylark," would try to sing it.

They did well. Skylark was impressive. He was in constant motion on stage and displayed a fine, soulful voice. The crowd started to get into it at this point. "Black Water" got everyone on their feet. The group closed out with "China Grove" and "Listen to the Music." Jason Scheff joined them on stage for this one. The Doobies had a monster saxophone player. Their web site lists Marc Russo as their touring sax player. He played on several songs and added a lot to the show.

There was a child playing an acoustic guitar off stage on every Doobie Brothers song. I'm guessing he's Simmons' son, because he stood right by Simmons when the other Doobie kids came out for the last song. He even had his own microphone for the last song.

It was nice to see Tom Johnston with the Doobie Brothers. I think he is to the Doobie Brothers what Terry Kath was to Chicago. He has a distinctive voice and after he left the band, they went off in a different direction, which wasn't all bad. He was in great voice, played great guitar riffs, took charge on stage and pretty much made the show for me.

The Doobies were tight and sang great vocal harmonies. All in all, a great show.

Chicago kicked things off in good fashion. Here's the set list:

Ballet for a Girl in Buchanan

Searching So Long/Mongonucleosis

Free

Hard Habit to Break

Call on Me

Old Days

Look Away

Feelin' Stronger Every Day

Saturday in the Park

Let It Snow

Just You'N' Me

Beginnings

Drum solo

Hard for Me to Say I'm Sorry

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is I'm a Man

--encore--

In the Mood

25 or 6 to 4

The sound was much improved over last year's Nashville's show. I'm not saying the band necessarily played better this year - I could hear them better.

Jason was in terrific voice, singing with power and authority. Best I've ever heard him.

The band seemed to take a real slow tempo on parts of the Ballet - much slower than the record. Don't know why - they obviously can play the parts at the faster tempos if they want to. I asked about this on Tris Imboden's forum, and he said they weren't trying to take it slower. I suggested my observation may have been due to the heat, and he joked that the heat affects the band, too!

As one previous concert reviewer noted, Keith Howland is really cranking the distortion. I like it. He's also not being buried in the mix as much as in previous shows.

Bill played guitar on "Look Away" but stayed back at his keyboard station with his earphones on. He sang great.

The crowd started to respond when the band kicked into the uptempo part of "Feelin' Stronger Every Day.' "Saturday in the Park" also was a crowd pleaser.

It snowed in Nashville, as it has in other towns Chicago has visited lately. Lee sang well on "Let It Snow." His trumpet playing was great. He was nailing high notes, soloing well, and generally just playing wonderfully. With all due respect to Walter Parazaider, it's time to retire the endless sustain note on "Free." I bet the Doobies sax player could have killed that solo. In Parazaider's defense, he pulled off another good flute solo on "Just You and Me."

Tris' drum solo was the best I've heard him do. He put in a lot of Latin rhythms. He did a video on playing Latin rhythms a few years ago. The crowd seemed to like it. Danny who?

"I'm a Man" rocked. I think it's time to choose another encore song to replace "In the Mood," although it does get the fans dancing in the aisles. I'd like to see the band change up 25 or 6 to 4 and return it to the guitar showcase it used to be.

Keith barely gets any time between playing the signature Kath riff to start the solo until the horns start doing their thing, which limits what he can play. Keith is a good player. They need to let him rip on this one. Interestingly, I had trouble hearing his solo. Maybe my ears were about shot at this point.

Overall, it was a very tight performance. The set list was not a clone of last year's show. We had one new song (Let It Snow) and subbed out some others, with "Look Away," "Old Days," and "Searchin' So Long/Mongo" getting back in the list. I would like to see them change up the final sequence, though.

Same old gripes: we need more Bill, more guitar, more songs Jason originated with the band.

Overall, though, a great show.

Random comments: The band had a replica of the "Chicago" street sign, signifying the street named after them in their home city. There was a computer to the side of the stage that showed a "Chicago" logo screen saver during the Doobies' set. Then the screen saver disappeared during Chicago's set and someone was sitting by it. Best I could tell, it was a Macintosh, but I don't know what they used it for.

Jason is sporting a white bass this year. Keith had his trusty green Anderson Strat as well as the black Telecaster he played last year. How does he get such a good distorted sound out of a Telecaster, especially one that doesn't have a humbucker in the neck?

We didn't have the "roadie who grew up in your town" schtick this year. I didn't miss it.

Same psychedelic backdrop as last year.

Best souvenir deal is the program. $5 for a bunch of cool pictures, some I hadn't seen before. Too bad the hockey jersey is $90. Nice to meet fellow Chicago fan Glenn, thanks to my CTA dog tag. That's all folks.